Introduction:

We last talked about what
it meant to act or speak “in the name of Jesus”…and how it meant being
completely in submission to His will and acting in accordance with that will: acting
and speaking in accordance with His Word and His will. Our words and deeds
should match, and both should line up with the commands of Christ.

The next eight verses lay
out a pattern of submission, which is not simply a “chain of command,”
such as military organizations use, and which many commercial companies mimic.
This is both more powerful and less oppressive than a “chain of
command.” Since the Church is the Body of Christ, and every believer a member
of that body, there is no one who “has to go through a
chain of command” in order to approach the throne of God. My elbow does not
tell my finger when it itches: it tells my brain, and my brain sends my hand to
relieve the itch. I always have access to the throne, directly. So does every
member of the body of Christ.

I may be an employee, or
even a genuine, bought-and-paid-for slave, in some country, but I still have
direct access to the Throne of Grace. No one can cut me off from that
privilege. A wife may be married to a loving, Godly husband, who makes few, if
any, demands upon her, or she may have a miserable wretch of a husband, who is
very demanding, and not at all loving. In neither case is she required to “go
through the husband” to get to God. Every single believer is a priest
in the body of Christ, and every one of them has full
access to the throne of Grace.

Submission to God through submission to others.

With all of that in mind,
consider that God has established some order in the world. All of us have some
person (or persons) to whom God calls us into submission. I do not have to like a
police officer who gives me a lawful order, but I do have to obey that
order, because of the authority of the Law…and it would be wiser to do so
without making a fuss over it. So God gives examples of that submission, here:

18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it
is fit in the Lord.

Is it possible that a
husband can require something of his wife that is not “fit” in the Lord?
Yes, I believe it is: he cannot force her to disobey the law, whether civil or
divine. He cannot force her into immorality. But, within the godly relationship
there is some authority. A wise husband does not abuse that authority. A godly
wife respects the authority of God, even in her flawed husband, but it is much
easier to do so when the husband is obeying God, as well. Further, notice that
this submission is to her own husband, not to men in general.
There is no injunction in the Bible saying that women should be subservient to
men. There are examples in scripture where women gave commands to male servants
or stewards. There is definitely not a “male-dominance” taught for society in
general.

19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

The key, here, is in the
nature of the relationship itself: A husband who is unconditionally loving his
wife (as Christ loves the Church) will inspire her to want the best for
that relationship, too. Notice that the command to the husband is not only to
“Love” his wife (remember that the agape love is always an action, not a
feeling), but also to not be bitter against her. That one is a heart-issue,
not
just an outward act. A husband who is loving his wife, and who is never angry
toward her, inspires her to want his approval.

If I am angry toward my
wife, or critical against her, even in the secrecy of my own mind, it is sin: it
is that simple. There does not have to be an outward manifestation for it to be
wrong. Bitterness is an inward thing, and God forbids me to
have it toward my wife. So, when I am feeling grumpy, and begin to blame my
feelings on my wife, God convicts me immediately, and I recite this specific passage
to myself (“Husbands love your wives and
be not bitter against them!”) as I confess to Him that I am wrong to be
angry.

Jesus doesnot
see the Church (the Body of Christ) in a negative light! I am to
imitate that attitude toward my wife. He does rebuke local assemblies for
their sin and their bad testimony, but the Church as a whole (often called
the “universal church”, but this phrase can be misused) is beyond rebuke. God sees
us only
in our new natures. We husbands are called to see our wives in that light, as
well. We are not to be critical. The reverse is true as well: wives are not to
be disrespectful or critical toward their husbands.

20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well
pleasing unto the Lord.

Again, I think there are
limits, here. When we hear in the news of some horrible parent selling his or
her precious child into sexual slavery, or worse, we never think, “Well,
children, make sure you obey your parents!” We recognize that those evil
parents and the pedophiles to whom they sold their children are allcriminals,
and we desire to see the criminals punished, and their victims delivered from
that abuse and bondage! No decent person wants those children to be subjected
to such evil. So, obviously there are limits. But where are those limits?

In the first place, it
seems to me that the command must be directed primarily to juvenile children,
probably not to those who have reached majority, and who are making
adult decisions. For instance, in any military organization, the commanding
officer does not have to check with the parents of his troops (most of whom may
be young, unmarried men) before he gives a command. They are adults, and their
oath of obedience is no longer to their parents. They have chosen to bind
themselves to obedience to their officers. Similarly, employees, in
this very passage, are commanded to obey their supervisors: So, what if
their supervisor disagrees with their parents? These are adults, and they are
no longer bound to their parents.

There are folks who
believe that the children, as offspring, are bound until they
are married, or even beyond. But this is not borne out in scripture. So, it
seems that there is such a thing as reaching adulthood, and being “on your
own.” There are examples in scripture, however, particularly early in Israel’s
history, when sons were obedient to their fathers, long after reaching what we
would consider adulthood, so, perhaps “adulthood,” even from God’s perspective,
varies from culture to culture. Marriage norms certainly vary from culture to
culture, and apparently so does the age of assumed adulthood. I know people who
insist that their grown children should be obedient to them, long after the
rest of the culture considers them to be an adult, and it causes serious strain
in their relationship, because of the unreasonable demands by the parents.

Responsibilities of Leadership and Response to it

21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be
discouraged.

We need to realize that, as parents, we can make it much more difficult and discouraging for our children to live in subjection to our authority. We (fathers, particularly) are commanded to not do things to provoke our children. Making unreasonable demands on our children, and/or not allowing them to “grow up” in a reasonable time frame, could easily contribute to such frustration and anger. We will see in the next chapter that the same is true of Employer/Employee relations…and that the person in responsibility is answerable to God for his or her actions toward those who have been subjected to his or her authority.

22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh;
not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God;

This is where we can
readily apply the scripture on a daily basis…or fail to do so. Most of us have
human taskmasters. Some are quite reasonable, some are not. But, in every case,
the servant is to serve from the heart, not just grudgingly doing as little as
possible.

I saw a story, possibly a joke, about a welder, applying for a job. The stated pay-range was 18-24 dollars per hour. The applicant made two welds; one looked terrible, one was absolutely perfect. The employer pointed to the ugly weld and asked, “What happened here?” The applicant replied “that is an $18/hr weld, the other is a $24/hr weld.” The story was supposed to be either “funny” or some sort of social comment, pointing out that “you get what you pay for.” But, to me, if I am capable of doing good work, and deliberately do substandard work, I am in violation of the principle, here in verse 22.

I am to serve from the
heart, regardless of pay. If I take the job, I am to do my best work.
If I am dissatisfied with the pay, I can either negotiate for more money or
leave. If I am asked to do something illegal or immoral, I can refuse, and
explain why. And it will very likely cost me my job to do so. But it may not.
On several occasions over the years, I have had supervisors demand that I lie
for them, or sign off on a document that was false. In every case I have
refused, and in every case they have been angry, but ultimately relented. I am
sure that it has cost me a number of raises, as they then accuse me of not being
“a team player,” or some such thing. One told me that he thought I should leave
my morals at home. This was a mid-level manager, who evidently did not see the
other side of that issue: that, if someone will abandon their morals, and lie for him,
they will certainly also lie to him, and about him.

Practical Conclusion

23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto
men;

That is the bottom line:
we are to live our lives, in every detail, as though it were Jesus, in person,
whom we serve…because it is! He is not some mystical being who lives in some
imaginary plane of existence. He is a real person, present with us, and living
in us. And He is still our Creator, Sustainer, and Savior. He deserves our full
obedience, as well as our love and worship.

Further, we
should be aware that our reward—our “wages”, as it were—are coming from
Him, not from our earthly paymasters. It is very easy to become distracted by
the “current events” of our lives, and not see the overall picture: then we
fail to see the long-range results of our lives.

24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the
inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.25 But he that
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no
respect of persons.

This is a good place to
remind ourselves of the coming “Judgment Seat of Christ”, where the works (not
the sins) of believers will be evaluated and judged. (2nd Corinthians 5:10)

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

This is not a judgment as
in a criminal court, but rather an “awards ceremony”… everyone on the team at
least has that blessing: we are “on the team.” All believers are “in
Christ,” permanently. In 1st
Corinthians 3:11-16, Paul points out, however, that there will be those
whose works result in reward, and there will be those whose works had no
eternal value. It is not that they were doing “bad things”, necessarily, but
perhaps that they were doing everything for the sake of their own glory or to
look good before others, or something of that sort.

This passage in
Colossians tells us the key to having reward: serve
Jesus personally, being conscious of His presence and authority, so
that your reward comes from Him and not from human approval. This is a
difficult thing for some of us, as we are so conscious of the world around us
and its pressure to conform and gain approval from other humans. But the
standard is the same for all of us, and a teacher or pastor is judged more
critically than others as his failure will affect others. It is very easy to
fail in this regard. When a teacher is feeding a flock, or teaching a class, he
or she will either be consciously looking to teach faithfully, responding
personally to the Head of the body, or…not doing so. And if not, then the
teaching becomes an effort to prove a point, or to prove oneself to be
knowledgeable, or “more spiritual” than others, or some such thing. It lacks
eternal value, because it was not “Jesus teaching through the
teacher.”

The same principle
applies, regardless of what it is God has called us to do. We are to serve from
the heart, and cheerfully subject ourselves to those He has put in authority.

Lord Jesus, help us to walk with you, and to
learn humility at your feet, walking in your shadow. Give us the Grace to serve
from our hearts, and to willingly be a blessing to all around us. Teach us to
see through your eyes, and to respond as you would respond.